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Talk:Sam/@comment-3967731-20181130004848
Most fans assume that Sam (like Chris and Josh) played no part in the prank on Hannah, but why is that? Because she's the "Last Girl" heroine? Because she's played by Hayden Panettiere? Because she's objectively nicer than most of the other characters? I'm not saying that Sam's not a good person, but her role in the One Year Ago prank is not as cut and dry as most people think. Rather, it's very much open to interpretation. What IS clear is that she had knowledge of the prank and was uncomfortable with it, that's why in the kitchen she was trying (perhaps too ineffectually) to get Jessica and the others to reconsider the plot. What's also clear is that when she bursts into the guest bedroom, she's distressed at how out of hand the prank has gotten and attempts to comfort Hannah while chastising the others. Those two actions are obvious. But her actions in between those two scenes are open to opinion. While the others head to the guest room, Sam walks upstairs, heads towards Hannah's room, and calls out her name. While walking upstairs, she looks pensive. While calling out her name, she looks over her shoulder and grimaces. I will explain both of these actions. Option 1: Sam, concerned that things will go badly and breaking with the other's plans, walks upstairs and calls out Hannah's name hoping to give her advanced warning about the ensuing prank. She grimaces because she's afraid that Emily and the rest will be mad at her for spoiling their fun. In the end, her actions are in vain because Hannah is already downstairs, and Sam runs into the guest room too late to stop anything. Option 2: Sam, pressured to go along with the group's plan, heads upstairs to tell Hannah that Mike is waiting for her in the guest room. She grimaces because she's helping set up her friend. Coming to her conscience later, she runs into the guest room to comfort Hannah. Despite how we feel towards Sam, it isn't clear which of these scenarios are more or less accurate; I think that's deliberate on the part of the game designers. They want it to be ambiguous, and I don't think either one is necessarily bad for Sam's character. In option 1, Sam is the principled and moralistic hero of Until Dawn from the start. In option 2, Sam is a more well-rounded person. She's put in a difficult position of being more loyal to Hannah or to ALL of her other friends. She caves to peer pressure just like we all have at one point in our lives, but after seeing how everything went so bad, resolves to be a more forthright person in the future. Regardless, most pages on this site say that Sam played no part in the prank and was trying to prevent it. That's an assumption, and I think we should stop putting forth that interpretation as the canon scenario in the articles here.